It has never been proved which side shot first, but both blame each other. The Protestants felt that they had to control the march and protect themselves. The Catholics were enraged by this incident, seeing it as murder. 13 people were killed, shot at indiscriminately in a crowd so anyone could have been hit. They said they didn’t shoot first and that if they had it was the IRA, so that didn’t give reason for firing into crowds of people, joining in an illegal march didn’t justify the army’s action. After the incident the British took full control of the N. Irish government fearing a complete breakdown of law and order.
Since then relatives of the victims and others who were present have led a campaign to find out what really happened on that day and to bring those they believed responsible to justice. Some people believe that peace in Northern Ireland can only come when events such as Bloody Sunday are properly and honestly investigated and openly left to heal. The campaign into Bloody Sunday has got further since the Good Friday Agreement when the British Government agreed to set up a new inquiry as part of the peace process.
Bloody Sunday was a major tragedy of The Troubles which Catholics still remember and are angry about, they will not forget it. This event has helped build the anger and lack of trust between the two sides because the Catholics were so angry that the army had done this and felt they couldn’t trust them or the British government. Today they still blame the army and the event led to British rule which also aggravated them because they couldn’t have their say. However the public, including many Protestants, saw it as showing the brutality and discrimination of the British state against the Catholic community.
Another incident in the past which has led to problems today was the act of union. This was after William of Orange had defeated James 2nd’s Catholic army, in 1690 giving Protestants more power in Ireland. The Protestants ruled from government headquarters in Dublin, strictly controlled by the English King. They passed laws to weaken the Catholic religion, such as not allowing Protestants to marry Catholics and not allowing priest to enter the country. They were called penal laws, they penalised Catholics. One of them made it impossible for Catholics to work for the government because anyone working for the government had to “take the several oaths of supremacy and allegiance”, if they didn’t they, “shall be adjudged incapable and disabled in law to have said office or employment”. The few catholic landowners left were very poor, but most worked the land they had once owned.
However not all protestants agreed with the way the country was being ruled. Especially protestant businessmen, who weren’t free to trade with whom they liked to protect the English from competition, and also Protestants outside the Church of England, Presbyterians, who nearly suffered the same way as the Catholics did from some laws.
By 1770 Ireland had much in common with Britain’s 13 colonies in America, who in 1775 rebelled and in 1776 declared independence. Then followed the war of independence, 1776-83, when Britain tried to regain control. Taking advantage of Britain’s difficulty, led by lawyer Henry Gratton, the Irish demanded more freedom to control their affairs. Afraid of another rebellion the British agreed and made the Irish government more independent, but this wasn’t good for members of the Church of England, Anglicans.
Woolfe Tone, an Anglican, sympathised with Presbyterians and Catholics, he wanted everyone to be equal and Ireland to be completely independent. The American and French revolutions inspired Woolfe Tone to act and he set up the society of United Irishmen. They tried to stop parliament passing penal laws and managed to make them pass a law so Catholics owning property worth over 40 shillings could vote. Britain was at war with France and was in no mood to listen to Woolfe Tone and he had to flee America to avoid arrest. After this the orange order was set up to protect Anglicans from attack and keep them in power. Then Woolfe Tone arrived with help from France and they began an uprising. But the loyal Protestants were ready and the rebels lost the battle ending the uprising. Government troops continued to hunt and kill the rebels including Woolfe Tone.
After this the British government decided it was too dangerous and made an act of Union in 1800 uniting Ireland with Britain. Ireland was then ruled by the British government and on 1st January 1801 a new flag, the union jack, was raised. Its three crosses joined the flags of Scotland, England and Ireland, in the United Kingdom of Great Britain.
Anglicans were mostly pleased about this because it gave them more power over Catholics and kept them safe from a rebellion. Catholics and rebel Protestants however were outraged by this, they wanted to be independent. Now Catholics would be penalised again and things wouldn’t be fair, they wanted to run their own country. Today the Catholics have got fed up of negotiating and not being listened to and so have resorted to terrorism. They use violence and threats to get their message across, but are now starting to realise this is not how a democracy works.
An economic incident which severely adds to anger between the Catholics and Protestants was the potato famine in 1846. That year there was a complete failure of potato crops; this was fatal for a land of peasant farmers and animals that lived almost entirely on potatoes. All corn and other produce were used to pay landlords, so when people were forced to eat their corn or starve they couldn’t pay landlords and were evicted.
Hunger made people desperate, “there have been attacks on flour mills in Clonnel by people whose bones protruded through their skin which covered them staring hollow eyes.” When all food was gone thousands began to die, “six famished and ghastly skeletons, to all appearances dead were huddled in a corner on some filthy straw.” The British were shocked and the prime minister urged parliament to take action, but too little was done too late. Millions immigrated to America most of them not surviving the boat trip.
The Irish were very angry about this and felt something could have been done to prevent all the deaths. They said it was our fault, we were in charge of Ireland and our landlords took the corn which would have fed the peasants. “They took the whole harvest and left hunger to those who raised it. Had the people of Ireland been the landlords of Ireland, not a single human creature would have died of hunger.” This sums up the Irish’s anger, if they had been independent instead of under our power they wouldn’t have let this tragedy happen.
Up to this day Catholics are still angry at the British for this incident, they will never forget what happened. They still have this anger at the back of their minds when disagreements between Protestants and Catholics occur today. This incident has led to Ireland being close to America, because there are Irish Americans still living there the links between the Irish and Americans meant that the Americans helped negotiate the 1998 peace agreement.
History is very important in understanding the troubles today because the disagreements started a long time ago and have all built up. Both sides are still angry about past incidents and so all of them have resulted in a big lack of trust between the sides. Today the problems are so difficult to solve because the history is still there, they still remember and are angry about past incidents. Neither side will forgive and forget the history of this feud. The anger from these past incidents has also built up to using violence to get their message across rather then sorting things out politically.
Part B
The peace process in Ireland has been going on since April 1998 when the Good Friday Agreement was signed. It was a 65-paged document, which addressed the issues in Northern Ireland causing the conflict. They agreed to stop terrorist activities, and to decommission weapons, and to try and solve things politically, setting up a devolved government. Some compromises had to be made to get to this stage, such as releasing some members of paramilitary groups from prison, which was seen as an insult to the families of innocent victims. Republicans also wanted the RUC disbanded, because they still remember internment and allegations of human rights abuses. The people who signed the agreement were political leaders from both sides, including Mo Mowlem, Tony Blair, Bertie Ahern and Gerry Adams.
But it wasn’t easy getting to this stage, before making decisions to release those who had been involved paramilitary activity, Mo Mowlem visited the Maze prison to talk to loyalist and republican prisoners. The visit was very controversial, but luckily it was a success. She persuaded loyalist inmates to give the peace talks another chance.
Another problem was when the Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble insisted that Tony Blair made sure the agreement said that no one who had links to paramilitary groups still engaged in violence could be part of the proposed Northern Ireland assembly. Tony Blair refused to do this but promised that politicians linked to paramilitaries who refused to hand over weapons would not be part of a Northern Ireland government. He also assured decommissioning would have to begin immediately after they set up the Assembly.
The final Agreement was posted to every household in Northern Ireland and a referendum was held on May 22nd 1998, there was also one held in the Irish Republic.
The result was in favour of the Agreement: 71.2% of people in Northern Ireland and 94.39% in the Republic voted yes to the Agreement. An Assembly was also elected in September that year. The Ulster Unionists won the most votes taking 28 seats. The SDLP took 24 and Sinn Fein won 18.
When the assembly first met on the 1st July 1998 Lord Alderdice was appointed speaker, David Trimble as first minister and SDLP’s Seamus Mallon as his deputy. It was a historic breakthrough, nationalist and unionist politicians were in the same room discussing the troubles.
But it was soon clear that some paramilitaries were set to disrupt the peace process. Four months after the Good Friday Agreement, in August, a car bomb ripped through the town of Omagh killing 29 people. It was the worst act of violence in the history of the Troubles. Two baby girls, five other children, 14 women and five men were among the victims. A splinter group of the IRA called the "Real IRA", led by a former member of the Provisional IRA were behind the bombings. Afterwards the Real IRA apologised for the bombing saying it had intended to only hit commercial targets. It later called a ceasefire to all military operations, this was short-lived. Both sides were shocked at this atrocity. It worried people that the political groups could not control their paramilitary groups. It increased pressure on Sinn Fein to make sure that weapons were handed over. Some people also hoped that this was a last desperate act against the unavoidable peace process which was starting. This aim to end the peace process, if any thing made people more determined not to give in to these people, Martin McGuinness, the chief negotiator for Sinn Fein, said: "This appalling act was carried out by those opposed to the peace process. It is designed to wreck the process and everyone should work to ensure the peace process continues."
So the peace process continued but by 1999 the Assembly hadn’t appointed a cabinet because of the lack of progress made in decommissioning IRA weapons. In July 1999 the Unionists refused to take part in forming a new government because the IRA had not started decommissioning. To try and save the peace process Senator George Mitchell, from the USA, had to be called back to make a review. After weeks of patient negotiating, carried out in strict secrecy, Senator Mitchell managed to get all parties to the talks and to give compromises in some areas. On November 27, 1999, the Ulster Unionist council backed the Mitchell plan for peace by 480 votes to 349. That decision started the creation of a Catholic and Protestant assembly in Northern Ireland.
The main problems with the agreement have been the IRA’s failure to decommission weapons which annoyed the Unionists. Also the bombing in Omagh showed that the IRA hadn’t kept their ceasefire. Sinn Fein were annoyed with the Unionists because of violent clashes at Dumcree when the Orange marches insisted on marching down a mainly Catholic street in July 1998. An RUC officer was killed in the riots. In December that year they bought Portadown, near Dumcree, to a halt with a protest about the Dumcree march. The local traders were furious at losing their Christmas trade.
Since then the peace agreement has started being put into action. The Northern Ireland assembly kept meeting until things went wrong again. On Tuesday 8 October 2002 the Assembly debated a concern at what had been found in a search of the Sinn Fein offices at Parliament Buildings and then the arrest of three Sinn Fein party members on spying charges on 4 October 2002. This led to the suspension of the Assembly by the Secretary of State on 14th October 2002. An election still took place on 26th November 2003. The results were DUP winning 33 seats, Sinn Fein and Ulster Unionists both getting 24, and SDLP getting 18. Also Lord Alderdice retired as Speaker of the Assembly on 29th February 2004. The Northern Ireland Assembly remains suspended.
I am going to look at some articles showing what has been happening in Ireland recently and what the present situation is.
The first is about the McCartney sisters. Their 33 year old brother was stabbed after a fight in a bar in May Street on Sunday 30th January 2005, he was found unconscious in Cromac street, he later died in hospital. He was Robert McCartney a father of two and was engaged to be married in June 2005. He was a Roman Catholic and lived in the mostly nationalist Short Strand area of Belfast and was known to be a supporter of Sinn Fein. The murder was carried out by members of the provisional IRA, which is thought to be linked with Sinn Fein, many traditional supporters of Sinn Fein showed their disgust at this crime. Opinion polls since have shown a fall in support for Sinn Fein. Over a thousand people attended a vigil in memory of McCartney five days after his murder. A similar number attended his funeral.
When the police service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) launched a murder investigation none of the estimated 72 witnesses came forward with information, although this is not unusual because nationalists don’t have much confidence in the new police force. It was claimed by the family that the killers issued a threat to everyone there not to discuss or report what they had seen. McCartney's sister said, "Their cover-up and their clean-up operation afterwards was meticulous." Mark Durkan of the moderate nationalist SDLP also accused the IRA of using a cover-up, saying that the "full force of the IRA has been used to intimidate witnesses and prevent the killers from being brought to justice."
However the IRA admitted to intimidating witnesses some weeks later and expelled three members.
Also suspended seven members of Sinn Fein. He urged witnesses to come forward to "the family, a solicitor, or any other authoritative or reputable person or body." He was asking witnesses to contact other people, not mentioning the police, which is normal for Sinn Fein who like thousands of Irish nationalists have no confidence in the police in Northern Ireland, neither the or before it, the . The McCartney’s disagreed with this and urged people to go to the police.
He also said, "I want to make it absolutely clear that no one involved acted as a republican or on behalf of republicans." Such a political reference made by Gerry Adams, after a brutal killing and a brave appeal by the McCartney’s who were still grieving was seen as insensitive. It was also seen as manipulating a nasty murder for political ends. The McCartney family have remained firm that they do not wish to become involved in the long political debate but want justice through the legal process and this can’t happen because witnesses are being intimidated by people connected with the IRA and Sinn Fein.
The PSNI said that they did not believe the IRA had ordered the killing, and that it was carried out by IRA members independent of the organisation's leadership. Later they claimed that a senior IRA man was involved in the murder. The victim's family agreed with this, claiming that it was the unnamed senior figure who ordered the killing. The McCartney family also stated that a total of 20 individuals were involved with the murder.
On 16th February the IRA issued a statement saying they weren’t involved in the murder and asked for those who did it to "take responsibility". McCartney's family welcomed this, but said that intimidation and threats had come "from the highest level of Sinn Fein and IRA".
On 8th March the IRA made an open statement saying that they had made an offer to McCartney's family to shoot the members involved in the murder. The family made it clear that they wanted the people concerned prosecuted, not physically harmed.
On the 9th March, three of the four men, whom the Provisional IRA offered to shoot in retaliation for the murder, were named. All three men were members of the Belfast Brigade of the IRA and had close links to Gerry Adams. All five McCartney sisters and his partner expressly rejected the IRA's offer to shoot the men, and again asked that the IRA lift their threats against the witnesses, allowing them to testify to the PSNI. Their cousin, Gerry Quinn, stated that McCartney's family wanted "justice, not revenge."
The article which I am looking at is from March 2005 when the McCartney family travelled to the United States for celebrations. There they were met by US Senators and US President who supported them in their campaign for justice. Meanwhile Gerry Adams wasn’t welcomed as he normally is because of the insensitive way he dealt with the murder and because of Sinn Fein’s links with it. They were said to be linked with the cover up because two female Sinn Fein election candidates were in the pub on the night of the murder. Paula McCartney said, “This stinks of a cover up”.
Instead of the normal celebrations with the Sinn Fein leader this year the McCartney sisters took his place. They met with very important people and had access to the white house. Gerry Adams didn’t meet the president or Senator Edward Kennedy, an important Ireland America figure, who said it was because of the IRA’s “ongoing criminal activity and contempt for the rule of law”.
This act showed that along with London and Dublin, Washington is highly critical of Sinn Fein. Richard Haass, a former US Northern Ireland specialist, said “No one as yet is ruling out dealing with Sinn Fein, but with the passage of months or even years that could very well happen. Gerry Adams does not want to become Yasser Arafat.” This shows that the US is highly unfavourable of Sinn Fein and is threatening they might have to do something about them soon, they are saying that Sinn Fein have terrorist links with the IRA.
Whilst in America Martin Maguinness of Sinn Fein warned the family to back off and one of the sisters threatened an electoral challenge to the party. But the Mid Ulster MP warned, “To step over that line, which is a very important line, into the world of party politics, can do huge disservice to their campaign.” He is saying that the campaign for justice might be politically manipulated and that the McCartney’s could use the popular support of their campaign, but he warns them not to cross this line.
The murder of Robert McCartney caused a lot of distrust in Sinn Fein. They lost the support of the public and of the outside world which was proved when they visited America. The McCartney’s instead received the publics support and that of the outside world when they were welcomed to America.
The Protestants and Catholics alike were disgusted by this crime and the cover up. Nationalists couldn’t see how killing one of their own made any sense. However they were still too threatened and distrustful of the PSNI to come forward, this is due to the past, the old wounds have still not been healed.
This incident has added to the failure of the peace agreement because it shows that there are splinter groups of the IRA and that Sinn Fein is still involved with them. It means it will be harder to gain the trust of the unionists because there is proof Sinn Fein aren’t sticking to the agreement. Also it shows there are now problems within the IRA because of splinter groups acting independently and problems within Sinn Fein. This is another incident which will add to the lack of trust, this time in Sinn Fein and its links with the IRA.
The other article I have is about violence caused by the loyalist marches. There were problems in a new mixed development of Catholics and Protestants in North Belfast. Catholic children were told by youths “You are invading our territory and your houses are going to burn tonight”, but no one took it seriously. So they were shocked and devastated when arsonists set fire to an oil tank destroying houses, and also for the victims destroying the idea of a new mixed N. Ireland. This is another disaster which isn’t good for the peace process and the first attempts of mixing Catholics and Protestants.
Sinn Fein said it was an attack by loyalists to try and build tensions during the marching season, which had began with violence.
Earlier that week a priest had appealed for no revenge attacks after a catholic church was burned down by arsonists.
There was also violence with the start of the marching season. The orange order marchers were returning from marching past the nationalist Ardoyne shops in North Belfast when Catholic demonstrators threw bottles and bricks and clashed with the police. 18 police officers and 11 others ended up injured. There are problems every year around this time because of the past behind the marches and the fact that loyalists march through Catholic areas constantly reminding them and taunting them about it. This area of Belfast is particularly bad and suffered the most murders of the troubles and also the loyalist protests outside the Holy Cross school, only four years ago.
The Chief constable of Northern Ireland, Hugh Orde, said the violence should act as a “wake up call” for the marching season. The priest who led the Catholic children to school during the Holy Cross dispute, Father Aidan Troy, said the conflict had fallen to “the subhuman” and warned that if something wasn’t done then someone could be killed.
The violence has led to politicians on both sides being unhappy. Nigel Dodds, of the Democratic Unionist party says the violence at the march was “An outrageous, unprovoked and vicious attack by republicans” which “Sinn Fein/IRA allowed to happen.”
Mark Durkan, the moderate nationalist SDLP leader, had warned earlier that Sinn Fein and the IRA might use violence in the marching season so they could claim to be calming tensions on the streets. He said this was a way of “reminding people that there are some things that the IRA are needed for.”
Sinn Fein’s Gerry Kelly said the Ardoyne rioting had been out of control and was tried stopping by community leaders as shown on the footage of it. He warned that tensions were high in North Belfast, especially because a senior republican who had been released under the Good Friday agreement was sent back to jail. He was Sean Kelly convicted of the IRA’s Shankhill road fish shop bombing in 1993 when nine protestants and one of the bombers died.
This violence by the nationalists is adding to Sinn Fein’s unpopularity and distrust. The article asks whether now the IRA will completely disarm its weapons and take up politics, to try and win back the support for Sinn Fein
These acts of violence have just added to the anger on both sides. The Catholics were outraged by the arson attack, claiming it was aimed to stir up tensions in the marching season. The marches them selves also still provoke anger within the Catholics because of the reminder of what happened in the past, however the marches are carried out peacefully in most cases. They were also very angry that the peace agreement was being ignored with the imprisonment of a senior republican, this will not encourage them to keep their side of the agreement.
Protestants were annoyed because of the violent clashes at their march, they were carrying them out peacefully, although they should know which areas not to march through. They felt Sinn Fein was using the IRA to keep tensions calm on the streets and remind people that there are some things the IRA are needed for. This enraged them because they felt that Sinn Fein were using violence to win back support.
Acts of violence like these are still going on in N. Ireland today and must be stopped because they are just building up more anger and distrust on both sides. The peace agreement is failing because neither side is sticking to it. Also the public do not appear to want it to happen, if they do they need to stop using violence and try to be peaceful. They need to have the right attitude and to try and make the peace agreement work before it can.
So at the moment it looks like the peace agreement is in real trouble because neither Unionists nor Nationalists are sticking to it. There is still an awful lot of anger which has built up and is still doing so. Only when this stops can things start to really change. The lack of trust that has built up is also a problem because it is still growing. Neither side is sticking to what they say and Sinn Fein is being especially untrustworthy. The troubles in Ireland go so far back that trust may never be rebuilt and anger may never be forgotten. There are so many problems that perhaps there is just to much anger there to heal, if it is going to work it will take a lot of work and time. Both sides will have to try and forgive and forget but both are far too angry. There is still a lot of conflict going on and a lot of anger and distrust in N. Ireland making the prospect of peace very far away.
